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The Funniest Part in Isaacson’s Biography of Steve Jobs

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I’ve been meaning to blog this for two years now. From Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs:

Even when he was barely conscious, his strong personality came through. At one point the pulmonologist tried to put a mask over his face when he was deeply sedated. Jobs ripped it off and mumbled that he hated the design and refused to wear it. Though barely able to speak, he ordered them to bring five different options for the mask and he would pick a design he liked. The doctors looked at Powell, puzzled. She was finally able to distract him so they could put on the mask.

He also hated the oxygen monitor they put on his finger. He told them it was ugly and too complex. He suggested ways it could be designed more simply. “He was very attuned to every nuance of the environment and objects around him, and that drained him,” Powell recalled.

That is absolutely hilarious. Here is Steve Jobs, barely conscience and virtually fighting for his life, and he asks the doctors to bring in five different options for the oxygen mask because he doesn’t like it’s design. Hilarious!

And, awesome.

Corruption: The Opposite of Leadership

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It is worth subscribing to Poverty Cure’s Youtube channel, whose aim is to encourage solutions to poverty “that foster opportunity and unleash the entrepreneurial spirit that already fills the developing world.”

Their latest video describes what corruption does to a nation. Lydie Hakizimana of Rwanda, who is being interviewed in the video, points out that “When there is corruption in a country…there is no hope. People don’t see themselves successful in the long-term.” “With hope you can think of a better future,” but when the leaders are corrupt, the entrepreneurial environment is killed and replaced with an environment of fear.

This caught my interest because in describing the effects of corruption, she has just described the exact opposite of leadership. As I’ve blogged before, the essence of leadership is precisely to give hope and “rally people to a better future.” In contrast, as Lydie points out, extreme corruption in a nation takes away hope, and causes people to cease believing that they can have a better future.

That is the exact opposite of leadership. What a tragedy it is when those entrusted with the responsibility to lead — to give hope and rally people to a better future — turn that responsibility on its head by turning it into an opportunity to enrich and advance themselves at others’ expense. Whenever someone does that, no matter what their title is, they have ceased to be a leader.

Here’s the video. And for more on Poverty Cure, see their website.

The Gospel Transformation Study Bible

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The Gospel Transformation Study Bible releases today from Crossway. I have found it to be a fantastic resource so far. Here’s the gist:

The apostle Paul summed up his whole ministry as existing “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). That single-minded goal is the heartbeat of the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible. Produced out of the conviction that the Bible is a unified message of God’s grace culminating in Jesus, it is a significant new tool to help readers see Christ in all the Bible, and grace for all of life.

And here’s my blurb for it:

Filled with amazing insight and yet highly accessible, this is an outstanding resource for understanding what it really means for the gospel to be at the center of our entire lives—and why this matters.

Learn more at the Gospel Transformation Bible site.

 

Live Like a Narnian

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Joe Rigney, Assistant Professor of Theology and Worldview at Bethlehem College and Seminary, has just released a new book on what C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia have to teach us about Christian discipleship. It’s a very innovative and enlarging book, and Rigney is a great guide. It’s called Live Like A Narnian: Christian Discipleship in Lewis’s Chronicles.

Brandon Smith has a good interview with Rigney over at Gospel-Centered Discipleship, as does Trevin Wax over at his blog. Rigney is also doing a message on Lewis this weekend at the Desiring God national conference which, of course, is on C. S. Lewis.

Needless to say, this sounds like a great weekend to dive back into the world of Narnia. So, here’s one more resource for you: a while back, Andy Naselli compiled a list of Ten Narnia resources he found most helpful when he took his daughter through the books.

 

 

 

An Interview with Malcolm Gladwell on His New Book, David and Goliath

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Catalyst interviews Malcolm Gladwell on David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, his new book.

Gladwell’s answer to this question sums up his aim in the book:

What do you want people to take away from David and Goliath?
I want people to understand that much of what is beautiful and important in our world comes from adversity and struggle.

Read the whole thing.